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Grand esf hunting competition

Picture this: the year is 873 AD, in a small farming village. The harvest has been good, but the granary is overrun with rats. The town headsman calls for a contest to thin the rat population: whoever presents to him the most rat pelts will be given their choice of the village's best horses.

Two thousand years later, the followers of Vanu on Auraxis are faced with a similar plague: not buzzing insects but buzzing VTOL jet fighters, infesting the skies and interfering with Vanu's holy work. One of their number proposes a similar contest to thin the number!

PRESENTING: The inaugural RPS ESF-hunting-with-Lancers competition!
Shooting down an ESF with a Lancer is difficult but not impossible; it takes practise. The aims of the competition are:
1) To have a jolly good time
2) To get people to practise shooting down ESFs with Lancers so everyone gets better at it
3) To instill in hostile ESFs the same kind of fear that we have of Strikers. Show them they are not safe!

RULES:
For this competition, the definition of an ESF 'kill' will be ONLY the FINAL HIT on an ESF that displays 'ESF killed' on the players screen and then a kill on the PILOT of the ESF.
Only ESFs that are IN FLIGHT at the time of the kill qualify. ESFs that are landed and repairing do not qualify; in the case of a kill of an ESF in the process of landing or taking off, the judge's decision is final as to whether the kill qualifies.

FORMAT OF ENTRIES:
Each entry will consist of a post in this thread. The post will begin with the words 'COMPETITION ENTRY' and the number of ESFs killed. The post MUST contain a video (ideally hosted on youtube) that should be a montage of kills, see RULES for what each kill should look like to qualify. ONLY kills recorded this way will qualify. The video need not be produced to a high standard but applicants should feel free to be creative as long as it does not interfere with kill identification. Music is optional but encouraged.
This is an example of the kind of thing I'm after: ignore the fact that it's with a phoenix :P

Participants are encouraged to post their progress and clips of particularly sweet kills as the event progresses but they MUST submit ONE final entry to qualify for the competition, as detailed above.

DURATION:
The competition will run from the time of this post (Evening, Wednesday 10th July) for a period of ONE WEEK. Entries must be posted by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday the 17th of July to qualify.

PRIZES:
The first prize, awarded to the hunter with the most kills, will be a UNIQUE FORUM AVATAR, hand-crafted by me (see notes) and the honour of adding 'Summer 2013 Lancer hunt master' to their forum signature.
The second prize will be a SLIGHTLY LESS UNIQUE FORUM AVATAR (see notes) and the honour of adding 'Summer 2013 Lancer hunt expert' to their forum signature.
The third prize winner will have the honour of adding 'Summer 2013 Lancer hunt hero' to their forum signature.
ALL participants will be entitled to add 'Summer 2013 Lancer hunter' to their forum signature.
ALL participants are encouraged to list their final kill tallies in their forum signatures.
SPECIAL ADDITIONAL PRIZES:
The 'KILLING THE UNKILLABLE' award will go to ANY PARTICIPANT who scores a Lancer kill on the ESF pilot known as 'DADDY'. The winner(s) will be entitled to add 'I KILLED THE UNKILLABLE' to their forum signature. To claim, post a video clip confirming the kill in this thread.
The 'YOU MAD BRO' will go to ANY PARTICIPANT who makes or causes an ESF pilot to make a post on the official forums about how overpowered the lancer is because it can shoot down ESFs. To claim, post here with a link to the offical forum thread where the complaint is made, ideally alongside your video kill confirmation of the pilot in question. The winner(s) will be entitled to add 'I MADE A BRO MAD' to their forum signature.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A LANCER
I do not wish to exclude anyone; some of you may have just started playing the game, may have very little time to play, or may not be able to afford space cash. People in this situation may submit a competition style video showing ESF kills with ANY WEAPON EXCEPT THE FOLLOWING:
Dedicated air-to-ground lockon launchers (nemesis / annihilator)
Bursters
Skyguard
ESF noseguns or A2A missiles
'Walker' anti-air machineguns
Any participant submitting such a video is eligible for the 'WITH MY BARE HANDS IF I HAVE TO' award. It is intended that this be a category for non-standard ESF kills using weaponry such as tank main guns, dumbfire launchers, ramming with galaxies, coordinated small-arms fire, lashers and firing enough flares at them that they freak out and slam into a wall. Note: it's not that difficult to kill ESFs with Galaxy bulldogs and Liberator tank busters / daltons / shredders and I should really disqualify these as well but they are so fucking satisfying that I will leave them in. Bear in mind that no-one will be impressed if you submit a 30-kill shredder montage.

FAQs:
Q: Should we abandon squad cohesion to chase after ESF kills?
A: I would rather you not but I do understand how the blood lust can take over. Please look after your squadmates!
Q: Can we form squads for the express purpose of ESF hunting?
A: Please do!
Q: What about killing ESFs as they spawn off air pads?
A: This is difficult enough to do with Lancers (requires timing and coordination of multiple people firing) that I will leave it in. Also it must make people really, really mad and that is a plus.
Q: I am not good at Lancer, I am at a disadvantage.
A: Yes. But bear in mind the reason I set this up is to encourage practise. Go out there and get better!
Q: Lots of us were shooting at it and I got an assist but not the kill, does that count?
A: No, sorry, it would make it way harder to keep track of each person's tally. Feel free to note down your assists.
Q: I killed their ESF but the pilot bailed before my last shot, does that count?
A: Maybe, at the judge's discretion. Submit your video and note that this happened in the post; the judge's decision is final. Killing the pilot with a followup Lancer shot will make the kill qualify automatically and will also impress me a lot.
Q: Can I pad my stats by repeatedly killing a friend on their TR alt?
A: Do not do this, I am trusting you are all honourable but if I find out you did this I will teamkill you repeatedly and lobby to get you kicked from the outfit.
Q: I killed a Scythe, does that count?
A: No. Stop it.
Q: I am bad at videos / don't have software, how can I enter?
A: Everyone should be able to record video with the in-game client; I am hoping that the more movie-savvy members of our outfit (paging jaguarskills!) will help out with recommendations for freeware that can be used for a simple montage.
Q: I don't agree with one of your decisions.
A: In the event of severe disagreements the matter will revert to the standard RPS dispute resolution process, see http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/foru...uman-Relations
Q: The prizes are a bit rubbish.
A: This is also not a question, you scamp. I would have loved to offer something more substantial (ideally something like paypal'd cash for SC) but drama can result when real cash is involved. Rest assured that if you get a lot of kills and we ever meet in real life you will not lack for drinks.

NOTES: Do not expect a super amazing forum avatar, I am bad at drawing. Expect a duck from duck hunt with the lancer crosshairs over it or something. If arty people wish to contribute prizes, let me know!